Reschedule and Cancel Appointments from WhatsApp with Phorest

This recipe lets clients move or cancel an appointment on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger, and updates it in Phorest inside your cancellation policy. Part of connecting Phorest to WhatsApp and AI chat.

What happens today

A client messages on Sunday night: “sorry can’t make tues 3pm, can I move to thurs?”. Nobody reads it until Monday. The front desk finds the booking in Phorest, checks Thursday, replies, and waits. If the client never answers, Tuesday’s slot sits empty because nobody released it.

A late reply to a change costs a slot twice: the old one is not freed, and the new one may be gone.

The flow that works

The client asks to change or cancel. AeroChat finds their next appointment in Phorest by phone number and confirms which one.
It checks the change against your cancellation window.
For a change, it checks Phorest for free times with the same stylist and offers up to three.
It moves or cancels the appointment in Phorest and confirms in the chat.

The old slot is released the moment the change is made, so another client can book it.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a client asks to change or cancel an appointment, follow these steps.

Find them in Phorest by the phone number they are messaging from and read back their next appointment: service, stylist, date and time. If they have more than one, ask which. If you cannot find them, ask for the name the booking is under.

If the appointment is less than 24 hours away (example), tell them our late change policy and hand the conversation to a team member. Do not change it yourself.

To change it, ask which day and time they would prefer. Check Phorest for free times for the same service with the same stylist, and offer up to three closest to what they asked for. If that stylist has nothing, offer other stylists for the same service.

When they choose, move the appointment in Phorest and confirm the new date, time and stylist.

To cancel, ask them to confirm, cancel the appointment in Phorest, and offer to book a new time.

Never change another client’s booking. Only quote policies from our knowledge base. Reply in the client’s language.

Change the 24-hour window to your own policy before you paste it.

What to connect

Phorest. The same API access as the booking recipe. If Phorest is already connected, this recipe uses it.
Your cancellation policy. Upload it to the AeroChat knowledge base so the reply quotes it word for word.

Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.

Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.

What you still decide

Your cancellation window, and whether late changes go to a person.
Whether a client can switch stylist when theirs is full.
Whether a deposit carries over to the new time.

The result to expect

Changes are made when the client asks, so slots are released early enough to rebook. Your team handles the late changes and exceptions, not every routine move.

Measure it in Phorest: cancellations made more than 24 hours ahead, and empty slots per week, for a month before and after.

Let clients move bookings in chat

Paste the recipe, check your Phorest connection, and message your own number asking to move a test booking.

Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.

On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.